Without a Trace
by GriffinRose
Summary: Odd wakes up one day and finds Ulrich gone. He left a message saying that he was leaving, probably for good. Why did he leave? What's he up to? Why is he called Merick? And what is Xana planning now? pairing UxY
1. vanishing

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko. If I did then there would be a real movie right now and many books about it.

Without a Trace

Odd woke up one day to the sound of Ulrich's alarm clock. He turned over to face the wall and waited for the routine to begin.

The routine was that Ulrich would turn off the alarm clock, and then throw his pillow at Odd to make him get up. Then they got dressed and went down to the cafeteria and had breakfast.

Something was wrong though. It had been a full minute, but the alarm was still going off. And where was the familiar pillow?

Odd Turned over again and saw that the brown haired boy's bed was empty, except for a lone envelope. He got up and walked over to the alarm clock and turned that off. He then grabbed the envelope and opened it. He took out a letter…

…And Ulrich's cell phone.

_Dear gang,_

_I'm assuming that Odd is the first to read this, so I'm apologizing to you first. I had to knock Kiwi unconscious to get out without him waking you up. _

_Jeremy, Aeilita, I'm sorry to you guys to. I didn't do anything thing specific, but if there is anything I'm sorry._

_Yumi, before I apologize for leaving you, I wanted to let you know that I've always liked you, in the boyfriend kind of way. I'm sorry I never got the nerve to ask you if you felt the same._

_I had to leave Kadic academy. Don't try and call; my cell phone is in the envelope. I don't know if I'll ever be back. I'm sorry that I had to leave before we finally stopped X.A.N.A., but certain circumstances didn't give me any choice. _

_I'll try and contact you guys once in awhile; let you know that I'm okay. I hope you guys aren't too mad at me. Have a good life._

_You're Friend,_

_Ulrich Stern._

Odd couldn't believe his eyes when he read this. He had noticed something fishy going on with his friend, but he never imagined that it would come to this.

Jeremy, Aeilita, and Odd were all sitting on the benches when Yumi came over later. Odd had already showed them the note.

"Where's Ulrich?" Yumi asked.

Instead of anyone answering her, they just handed her the note. She quickly read it, and then reread it.

"So, he's gone?" she confirmed. Tears were welling up in her eyes.

"Yeah; I don't know when or why, only that he put Kiwi unconscious so that he could slip out without an interrogation," Odd said.

"It says that'll he try and keep contact up with us though, doesn't that count for something?" Aeilita asked.

"It just means he wants us not to worry about him. And why would he tell me that he loves me in a goodbye letter?" Yumi asked.

"He never had the courage to do it before," Odd said.

Yumi just stared at the note, wanting to savor it forever. As far as she knew, the boy of her dreams had just left the building, possibly forever.

Ulrich was running through the streets. It was late; around 2 in the morning. He hadn't wanted to do it, but circumstances gave him no choice. He was being tracked, and the entire school would soon end up a target if he didn't leave.

He rounded a few corners until reaching his destination: an abandoned factory (not the one with Lyoko) at the edge of town. He did the secret knocking trick and said the password and the door slid open.

"Hey Merick," a girl said from within the shadows.

"Hi Sally," Merick answered.

"What took you so long?" another voice answered, this one was male.

"Hello to you to Mike," Merick said sarcastically. "I had some trouble getting out of the school grounds. My timing was off tonight," he answered.

Two people stepped out of the shadows; one boy, one girl. The girl had red hair, the boy had black.

"If your timing is off then you're going to get caught," Sally warned.

"I'm here now aren't I?" Merick asked.

"It doesn't matter. Look, are you two going to be arguing the entire 8 months we're in hiding?" Mike asked.

"Relax would you? It's not like I blew the secret," Merick said. The room the three teens were in had 3 beds, some cabinets with food, and a table with a computer on it.

"I'm still iffy on this whole idea. What happens when we run out of food?" Sally asked.

"That's the hard part. Every time we run out of food one of us has to go buy more," Merick said.

"No, the hard part is trying not to run out of money," Mike corrected.

"Seems to me like the hard part would be trying not to be recognized," Sally added.

"Would you two relax already? We are the top agents, plus we are protected by the government. Nothing could possibly go wrong," Merick assured them.

end of chapter one.

Well, hope you liked it. In case it got confusing for you, Merick and Ulrich are the same person.

Let me know if I should write more.

Flames are welcome.


	2. broken hearts, new orders

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko.

This chapter is taking place over the course of a few months.

This is a reminder that Ulrich and Merick is the same person.

Without a Trace

Chapter 2

It had been a month since the day Ulrich had left Kadic academy. The Lyoko gang was falling apart without anyone else to help them. They had become so desperate that they even asked Sissi, Herb, and Nicholas to join them.

A report had been filed about the strange disappearance, but no results had turned up so far. An ad was put in the newspaper every week.

Yumi was the most devastated of all. He told her that he loved her, and then he walked out of her life. With every passing day, the chances of him ever coming back become slimmer and slimmer.

Merick had been extremely alarmed the first night he had gone out to replenish the food supply. The front cover of the newspaper had a picture of him on it, and a title of 'missing'.

He had died his hair to yellow, and changed his wardrobe. With the people he was involved with now, he couldn't afford to get caught. What was even harder was coming up with an alibi for Sally and Mike on why his name was Ulrich Stern in the paper.

"It must some twin that I have," Merick tried.

"I highly doubt that," Sally said.

"You never know. One of us could have been kidnapped in the early years of our lives and our parents never told us," Merick said. It didn't take much for Sally and Mike to realize they weren't getting any information out of him, so they dropped it.

5 months after that the ads looking for Ulrich Stern had come to an end. There were plenty of other people going missing who needed that space, and who had a chance of being found.

Merick waited another 2 months before letting his hair become brown again. He had grown used to the wardrobe though and decided to keep the new look, which consisted of a white hoody with black lines emblazed on the bottom half, and a pair of dark blue jeans.

Meanwhile the Lyoko gang had pretty much lost all hope of him coming back. They told the FBI everything they knew about Ulrich, excluding the parts about Lyoko of course.

Three months after the ads had stopped the gang managed to free William from his prison on Lyoko. He had dated Yumi for about 4 months, but realized her heart still belonged to Ulrich, and so broke up with her.

It had been a full year now since Ulrich had disappeared so mysteriously. The gang was eating lunch.

"It's hard to believe that it's only been 12 months," Aeilita remarked to the gang.

"And we still haven't gotten any information other then the fact that he's gone," Jeremy added.

"Life just doesn't seem the same without him," Odd said.

"It's like part of us is missing," Yumi said. Ever since The Night, she had become a quiet girl.

"We should start our own investigation," William suggested.

"And where would we start?" Herb asked.

"And how do we know he's still in the city?" Aeilita added.

"He's gone, okay. That's all there is too it. Apparently we weren't important enough to him, so he ditched us," Yumi said.

"Then why did he say that he loved you in his goodbye letter?" Odd asked her. Tears were starting to well up in Yumi's eyes.

"How about a subject change?" Sissi asked.

"That science test was pretty easy today, right Aeilita?" Jeremy asked, taking the hint.

"I thought so. Question 5 was hard though," she responded.

All in all life had remained as normal for the gang as it was likely to get.

Merick was reading the missing ads every week to make sure he didn't appear in them again. Sally still didn't buy the whole twin thing, and Mike was too busy trying to decode their orders to care.

The organization these three were in involved in some pretty dangerous stuff. They were also under protection from the government since the government was the one who came up with the whole plan.

"How's that message coming along?" Merick asked Mike.

"Not all that well. I can't even get to the actual message. Any one knows how doughnuts relate to dice?" he asked.

"Donuts and dice?" Merick asked coming over. On the small screen he saw six dice. The question above asked how many bites of the doughnut were taken. The order of the dice was: 1, 3, 2, 6, 5, and 3.

Sally had come over to, and was taking a look at the puzzle. "Did you try how much they add up to?" she suggested.

"Yeah. That was the first thing that came to mind. Then I tried different combinations of different dice. None of the things I tried have worked."

"Obviously. Otherwise we would be decoding the message now," Sally said.

"Only doughnuts have holes," Merick said.

"What?" Mike asked, confused.

"Only doughnuts have holes. Number 1 is a full doughnut that no one has taken a bite out of yet," Merick explained.

"That would mean that number 3 is really 2," Sally said. Her eyes opened wide in amazement. "Merick you're a genius!"

"Which makes the total 8!" Mike said. He typed in the number. The screen went black.

"What happened?" Sally asked.

"Beats me; Mike, you're supposed to be the computer genius. What happened?" Merick asked him.

"I don't know! It was your answer!" Mike said. The screen came back on. It was a blue background with black text, making it hard for any unwanted eyes to see it.

The three teens quickly scanned it over. It looked like they were going to be in hiding a lot longer than they had thought.

About 10 years longer.

-End of Chapter 2-

So, what do you think? You can tell me you would like to see happen by pressing that little square at the bottom of the page that says go, and leaving me a message. I'm kinda at a writers block with the story right now, so if you could let me know what you want to see, that would be very helpful.

NOW REVIEW!!!! PLEASE!!!


	3. danger revealed

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko

I received a lot of questions from a reviewer, so I'm going to try and answer them. If they don't answer your questions, hit the little square at the bottom of the page and let me know.

1. No, Mike and Sally do not know that "Merick" is really Ulrich.

2. Ulrich doesn't want them to know because he is trying to leave his old identity behind. Going by Ulrich has too many memories for him.

3. I pretty much just answered that one up in 2.

4. He's originally Ulrich. Merick is just a code name.

Let me know if that doesn't answer your questions.

Without a Trace

It had been 5 years since Ulrich's mysterious disappearance. The factory had been destroyed, so the gang no longer fought x.a.n.a.

Yumi kept to herself anymore. She didn't leave her room that often and rarely talked to people.

Odd was now dealing with the grief of Ulrich's disappearance and his dog Kiwi's health.

Jeremy and Aeilita were still as smart as ever, but were prone to fail a test here and there.

Sissi, Herb, and Nicholas no longer hung around with the group, seeing as there was no need to.

Yumi was in college now, and was studying to become a vet. She would sometimes go and see if Kiwi's symptoms had anything to do with what she was studying.

Merick was still in hiding with Sally and Mike. They had been performing more and more acts of being spies recently, meaning that they were leaving the hideout more and more.

Today was Merick's day to go and buy the food. He had the hood of his black cloak drawn tight around his face. It may have been suspicious, but as long as he did what normal people did no one paid any attention to him.

He was still on his way to the store when he accidentally bumped into someone. They both fell to the ground, the other persons things scattering all over the side walk. Merick's hood had also come loose.

Merick helped the black haired woman pick up her belongings. He handed the books to her. A light breeze was starting to pick up.

The woman was about to continue on her way when the hood fell back behind Merick's head. She stared at his face, and almost dropped her books again.

"U-Ulrich?" she asked Merick. Merick's eyes opened wide as he realized that this woman was no other than Yumi.

"Who?" he asked. Merick decided that for now he would act as if that person didn't exist.

"Ulrich!" Yumi exclaimed. She purposely dropped her books on the ground and embraced Merick in a hug.

"Hey, lady! You've got the wrong guy!"

"I recognize that voice anywhere! You are Ulrich!" Yumi persisted.

"I don't even know who that guy is!"

"We've all though you were dead when you disappeared 5 years ago! We though X.a.n.a. might have gotten you!" Yumi went on, acting as if he hadn't said anything.

"Yumi?" a voice called from down the block. It was Odd, still wearing his head in the one spike he was famous for. "Is this the same Yumi who rarely even talks to me that I know see hugging some stranger?" he joked.

"It's no stranger," Yumi said. She still hadn't let go of Merick. "It's Ulrich."

"Holy cow it is!" Odd said as he recognized his old friend.

"I'm telling you, you've got the wrong guy!" Merick said. Not good.

"How's it been?" Odd asked him.

"Is my voice invisible to you? YOU HAVE THE WRONG GUY!!!" Merick persisted. This was definitely not good.

"You are Ulrich Stern. I know his voice anywhere!" Yumi persisted. She was still hanging on to him. Not seeing the boy of her dreams for 5 years had really had an impact on her.

"Ulrich Stern? You mean that boy who disappeared a few years ago and no one could find? Not even any private detectives?" Merick asked.

"Yes! The one we thought we'd never see again!" Yumi said. Merick was trying to break free from her grasp. Being out in the open this long wasn't good. Especially with Yumi causing a scene like this and everyone staring at them.

"I think I read somewhere that they found his body," Merick said. He didn't want to have to do this, but it was the only way.

"His body, you mean he's…" Yumi started. Merick knew what she was going to say.

"That's what it said," Merick said. He was hurting Yumi, and he knew it. He also realized that he had probably just given away a huge hint as to who really was.

"There's only one person in the world that could ever pull a hoax that good it would work. Our pal, Ulrich," Odd said. Yumi was squeezing Ulrich even harder now.

"Let… Go! Can't… Breath!" Merick managed.

"Yumi, you better let him go before you really do kill him," Odd said. Yumi let go, and Merick ran away as fast as he could.

"Wait!" Yumi said. She was right on his tail. Odd picked up Yumi's books and shoved them in his purple bag and started running after them.

Merick ran through a crowd. They were suspicious of him running though like that with such a long cloak, but Merick didn't pay attention. All he wanted to do right now was lose Odd and Yumi.

"Ulrich!" Yumi called after him. Many people turned their heads at hearing this name, considering half the people in that crowd where at Kadic the year Ulrich disappeared. When they saw Yumi chasing after him, they knew exactly who it was in the black cloak.

Unfortunately, that crowd also had people who were Merick's enemies, so when they heard that name, they joined in the chase after Odd had gone by.

These people were faster than either Odd or Yumi, so they quickly passed them and were now right about to catch Merick.

Merick chanced a glance over his shoulder; big mistake. He saw who was chasing him now, but didn't see that he was coming up to a street corner of a busy intersection. He ran right into the street and tripped on a pot hole, falling on the ground. He heard a horn on a truck, turned his head to the right, and saw an 18 wheeler.

The 18 wheeler was going 60 mph, and slowing down like that was hard when you only had a few seconds to react.

Struck with fear, Merick was frozen on the spot, and 18 wheeler was still coming at him.

-End of chapter 3-

Hope you enjoyed it!

If you want to see what happens to "Merick" then review and I'll start the next chapter!

I'm not updating for at least a week.


	4. escaping

Disclaimer: I do not own code Lyoko.

I'm updating earlier then a week because a lot of people probably want to kill me right now. (Thank goodness they don't know who I am)

UlrichMerick

Without a Trace

Chapter 4

The truck hadn't stopped yet. Merick was still patronized with fear in the middle of the road. Odd and Yumi were staring in amazement as the person they think is Ulrich just sat there, in the middle of the road, not moving.

"Hey! Merick! Wake up already! Get your butt out of the road!" Sally called from the other side of the street. Merick shook his head as if waking from a dream, saw the oncoming truck, stood up, and ran to the other side of the street. The truck passed where Merick had just been.

"Thanks Sally," Merick said.

"What is wrong with you? Get you hood up now before someone recognizes you!" Sally said.

"Too late," Merick said. Odd and Yumi crossed the street, and Yumi put her arms around Ulrich again. There was a crowd across the street filled with old classmates from Kadic.

"Is that Ulrich?" one whispered to another.

"I think so. His hair is the right color, and it's the right face," they whispered back.

"Hello Ulrich. How nice of you to show yourself," a voice said from above them. They all looked up and saw William, a brown cloak hiding most of him. He jumped down and landed next to them. Merick tried to get Yumi off of him.

"What are you doing here William? I thought you were overseas," Yumi hissed at him.

"I was, but I met up with an old friend. X.a.n.a." he said. Merick knew exactly what side William was on now.

"Yumi, you need to let go, now!" he told her. She let go reluctantly, half expecting him to bolt again. "I'm gonna need you guys to get rid of this crowd," Merick told Odd and Yumi. They nodded, and ran to the crowd.

"You need to leave! You could be hurt or killed if you don't!" Yumi told them. Since Yumi had never spoken to anyone like that in a long time, they knew she wasn't lying. They turned around and ran.

"So Ulrich, or is Merick now? You thought you could hide from me simple by putting a cloak on? You were wrong!" William said. Merick didn't answer. Instead he punched William in the face.

"I've been waiting to do that for a long time," Merick said. William quickly regained his composure, and tried to punch Merick back. Merick easily blocked it, and then kicked William on the side of his face.

William fell to the ground.

"I see you can still fight. Five years in hiding hasn't done much to that," he said as he stood back up. "This should be interesting then."

William removed his cloak to show a variety of weapons all strapped on around his chest, and one sword on his waist. Only Heaven knows how he kept that hidden in the cloak. William unsheathed his sword first.

"William! What do you think you're doing?!" Yumi called from across the street.

"Relax Yumi, he won't be able to scratch me," Merick said.

"Or any of us for that matter!" Mike said from the top of a building. He jumped down next to Merick and took a fighting stance. Sally got into her fighting stance on the other side of Merick. All three of them had on black cloaks, which were quickly removed to show their own variety of weapons.

"I'd expect nothing less from my old foe," William said as he examined their ammo.

"What's he talking about?" Sally asked.

"I'll explain later," Merick answered. William advanced with his sword, ready to strike. Sally and Mike moved aside, and Merick quickly unsheathed his own sword that was strapped on hid back and parried William's blow.

Mike and Sally then stabbed daggers into William's back, forcing him to drop the sword.

"Let's go!" Merick said. The three of them grabbed their cloaks and put them on, and then ran down the street.

"This isn't over!" William called from where he was.

"Ulrich!" Yumi called from her side of the street. There was too much traffic to cross, and by the time there was an opening, Ulrich would be gone. "Ulrich," she said quietly. She dropped down to her knees and began to cry.

Odd and sat down with her; his own were tears beginning to form.

William stood up and backed into a portal. "This isn't over Stern. This is only the beginning!"

-End of Chapter 4-

There's your chapter. Now you have no reason to want to kill me. I hope.

I'll try and update within the week.

Now press the little square that says "go" and leave a review that says you forgive me and that you no longer want to kill me.


	5. new recruits

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko.

Here's the fifth chapter!

And just so we're clear, no more threatening to kill the writer!!! You kill the writer you don't get anymore story!

Think about that while you're making your reviews.

Without a Trace

Chapter 5

It had been a full week since Yumi and Odd had seen Ulrich. Yumi had skipped all of her classes to search the town, and she searched high and low, but to no avail.

Jeremy and Aeilita didn't believe their story, even if it did make perfect sense.

Odd had been keeping to himself and doing everything he could to help Kiwi. It wasn't looking so good for the little guy.

Mike and Sally had smacked Merick in the head about twice a day each that week for his screw up. Especially since they never did get food, and it was extremely dangerous for any of them to go out now.

"This has been bugging me all week," Sally started when she came in from getting food. "That girl was calling you Ulrich, which was the name of the boy who disappeared the same night we first came here. You were hiding something then, and you're hiding something now; so spill."

"I'm Ulrich," Merick answered. Why bother hiding it anymore?

"No, I want the- What did you say?" Sally asked, utterly confused.

"You ask me a question and then don't even listen to my answer, sheesh. I said, "I'm Ulrich". I used Merick as a codename since I've been living in this city for the past 10 years now. A lot of people in this city knew me, if one of you called out to me on the streets, they would recognize me and we'd be caught and X.a.n.a. would still be attacking everyone even harder then he is now," Ulrich explained.

"So which do you want to be called?" Mike asked.

"Merick; I left the name Ulrich behind with my old life, and I intend to keep it that way," Ulrich said.

"Okay then Merick. Why didn't you just tell us in the beginning?" Sally asked.

"Because I didn't want to chance one of you guys forgetting I'm Merick and then calling me Ulrich on the streets. It was a safety issue," Merick explained.

"Okay, I get it now," Sally said.

"Guys, we have out next assignment," Mike said from his computer.

"What do we have to do now?" Merick asked, regretting asking as soon as the words left his mouth.

"Find where X.a.n.a is and destroy him," Mike said.

"You've got to be kidding me. He has a whole fortress full of guards, and what do we have?" Sally asked. "We have 3 teens and a bunch of ammo."

"We could even those odds out to 7 teens and a bunch of ammo," Merick said.

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Sally asked.

"My friends from Kadic; they have experience fighting X.a.n.a. and they would be a big help," Merick said.

"You just made it look like you don't care about them, and now you want to go crawling back to them for help?" Mike stated.

"They haven't seen me in 5 years. They'll say yes to anything I ask them," Merick said.

"Even if you asked them what their favorite ice cream flavor is?" Mike asked.

"Ha, ha, you're very funny," Merick said sarcastically. "Now the only problem is getting to them and asking them."

"Yeah, that's easier said than done," Sally said.

"You know, if Sally and I got our friends to help out to, we would have our own army to use," Mike said.

"Oh no you don't. You're weird enough! That's all the weirdness this broken down apartment can handle!" Sally said.

"He brings up a good point though. I say we go for it," Merick said.

"It's nice to know someone appreciates all the thinking I do," Mike said.

"I'm going along with it so that you don't hurt yourself trying to think again," Merick said.

"Oh, so now you're playing the sympathy card, well its not- Hey!!" Mike said as he realized what Merick was implying. Merick and Sally fell on the floor laughing so hard.

A few minutes later when Merick and Sally could breath right again, Merick asked, "So we're all going to get our old friends to help us out here right?"

"I guess that's the plan. Although you're lucky; you don't have to leave the city to do it," Sally pouted.

"I may not have to leave the city, but I still have to track everyone down, and in a city this size that could take awhile," Merick said.

Mike was shoving some food in his blue backpack. He put his effects (a/neffects are weapons. I was watching Jack Sparrow) on and then his black cloak. "I'm going to head out now. I've got a long way to go. I'll leave the computer here for you," he said. He walked out the door and was gone.

Sally was getting ready to set off to. "Don't destroy the place alright? This is our only home and we're going to need it," she said before she walked out the door.

Merick put his effects on and covered it up with his cloak.

_I hope they aren't mad at me. If they are then that will make this really hard, _he thought to himself. He walked out the door and started walking towards Kadic.

It was only a half hour walk, but when you're completely covered by a dark cloak and you know someone is out there trying to kill you, 30 minutes can turn into an hour.

Merick finally had the school in site, as well as a head full of pink hair. Aeilita.

He walked through the gates, taking his hood off in case they know had security cameras. Merick took a deep breath.

"Aeilita?" he asked. She turned to face him, and nearly fainted.

"U-U-Ulrich?" she stammered.

"Can we go to your room? I have something I need to ask everyone, but I can't do it here in the open," Merick said. Aeilita nodded, started walking to the dorms, and dialing a number.

-End of Chapter 5-

I had many options of a mean cliffie here, but didn't use them. So be thankful.

Review, review, review!


	6. Xana's back & worse than ever

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko

Sorry it took so long. I've had a lot of homework.

Without a Trace

Chapter 6(wow, I made it to chapter 6)

Ulrich was sitting on Aeilita's bed, waiting for everyone to arrive. Yumi had actually bolted from her house as soon as she heard his name. Jeremy and Odd were there as well since they had been in their dorms. Ulrich thought this was everyone.

"Who are we still waiting for? I thought this was it," Ulrich said.

"You said everyone, so I called everyone," Aeilita said. The door opened as William, Sissi, Herb, and Nicolas walked in.

"You're kidding me," Ulrich muttered under his breath.

"After you left we needed some help, so we called them," Jeremy said. For once he didn't have his laptop with him.

Sissi looked like she wanted to sit in Ulrich's lap, but seeing the happy face Yumi had made her think twice. Yumi hadn't had a happy face in years.

"Okay, um, this is something I wasn't prepared for. You guys already know about Xana and Lyoko right?" Ulrich asked. The four newer recruits nodded. "Good, that'll make this easier to explain."

"You're not explaining anything until we get some answers," Yumi said.

"I guess that's fair enough," Ulrich said.

"Why did you leave and where did you go?" William started, surprisingly.

"I left because it was getting dangerous for me to stay out in the open. That's classified information, the second one," Ulrich answered.

"Why didn't you tell us you were leaving before you did? Or even give us signs throughout the years you were alive?" Yumi asked.

"I couldn't tell you because that would involve telling why I was leaving which would involve telling you about the huge trouble I was in. If I had sent signs that I was alive police would still be looking for me, and that's the last thing I want right now. It's bad enough William almost…" Ulrich stopped short when he realized William was in the room with him right now.

"When I almost what?" William asked. It clicked for Odd and Yumi too and they jumped up. Everyone was staring at William and then at Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi. Then they realized William was supposed to be overseas right now.

"You're not the William we all think you are, are you?" Aeilita said.

"**No. Now that you've figured it out, I can go back to my plan of killing Ulrich!" **William said in a voice that wasn't his own. He pounced on Ulrich with a dagger in his hand. Ulrich was just barely able to keep the dagger away from his skin. Yumi kicked William off of Ulrich, and Ulrich jumped to his feet. Getting in a fight was the last thing he had wanted to do.

Ulrich positioned himself in front of the window and William jumped at him again. Ulrich ducked and William flew though the window, causing glass to fly everywhere.

"Jim's going to kill me!" Aeilita said as she examined the mess. Jeremy ran out to go get a broom and a dustpan.

"Sorry about that. It was the only way to get him out there without hurting anyone," Ulrich apologized. Jeremy came back in and started cleaning up the mess with Aeilita. "Anyway," Ulrich continued, "It was bad enough William had almost killed me and ended up forcing me to fight back. I didn't want to deal with anyone recognizing me, so that's why I always have this cloak when I go out."

"Okay, so you had a good reason for everything you did. Now what did you want to ask us?" Aeilita asked. Ulrich took a deep breath.

"I wanted to ask if you guys if you'd be willing to help me fight Xana again. He's a lot stronger than he was before, and we'd be doing it on Earth where our lives are in danger," Ulrich said.

"You abandoned us 5 years ago, leave me to believe you don't care about us last week, and now you have the nerve to ask for our help?" Yumi yelled at him.

"Yeah, pretty much," Ulrich said.

"I'm in," Odd said.

"Same goes for me," Sissi said.

"Count us in too," Jeremy said for both him and Aeilita.

"You think I'm going to turn down helping out the boy who said that he loved me 5 years ago?" Yumi said. Ulrich looked at, confused at first by what she said. Then he remembered the note he had left everyone, and in it he had mentioned his feelings for the Japanese girl. He smiled.

"Okay, Sally, Mike, and I have been given orders to find Xana's hideout and stop him. Xana has years of experience and an army and all we have is a few years of my experience with 3 people, so we decided to recruit our old friends from before, meaning me with you guys and them with their own old friends.

"It won't be much against an army, but it would be better than just 3 of us going against him. Obviously you already know half of the story, so explaining everything won't be that hard," Ulrich said. There was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Aeilita asked.

"It's Jim, and I'd like to know why your window was shattered. Now open up!" Jim said. Ulrich was staring at the door, knowing he wasn't supposed to be there right now.

"Just a minute Jim!" Aeilita said. She glanced at Ulrich, and saw him looking at the window. "You're not going to jump out my window!" she hissed at him.

"I wasn't thinking of jumping," Ulrich whispered. He walked over to the window and looked down. There was a small ledge that underneath the window, just big enough for someone to hide on. Ulrich was about to climb down on it.

"Hurry up Stones!" Jim said, using Aeilita's false last name. "I counting to 3, and if you don't open by then I'm coming in myself, 1!"

"Okay, do whatever it is you're planning!" Aeilita said.

"Two!"

Ulrich nodded at the pink haired girl and swung his legs out the window, landing them on the ledge.

"Three! I'm coming in!" Jim said. He grabbed the handle and turned it, and then started opening the door. Ulrich ducked down, but not before the gym teacher saw and recognized his face.

-End of Chapter 6-

I know, you're mad at me and want to kill me again. I don't know what I want to happen yet so I'm leaving it at that.

AND STOP THREATENING TO KILL ME!! I hope you realize that if you kill me you won't get anymore of the story and then you're right back where you started except now you don't have anyone to update it.

Please review!


	7. a new dilemma

Disclaimer: I do not own code Lyoko

I've been in a writing mood lately. That's the only reason you're getting 2 updates in one night, so I don't want to hear any complaining.

Without a Trace

Chapter **7**

Ulrich was crouched on the ledge under the window. He knew he hadn't been fast enough and that Jim had seen him.

"Was that…?" Jim started to say, but couldn't think of the name right away. Then he realized there were a bunch of people in a dorm room that only one person lived in. "What are you all doing here?"

That bought Ulrich some time to improvise. He crawled over to an area in between some windows and then looked up the brick wall. It just might be climbable.

"We're working on an extra credit project together," Yumi lied.

"Oh, and what would that be?" Jim asked.

"Figuring out how glass stays together in all types of weather," Aeilita said.

"So the 7 of you are all working on one project on how glass stays together in all types of weather, and to do that you broke your window?" Jim summarized.

"That about sums it up," Nicolas said. Then Jim remembered the chocolate haired boy he had seen, and ran over to the broken window and looked down. There was no one there.

"Wasn't there someone who jumped down here right before I came in?" Jim asked.

"No, there wasn't. Whatever gave you that idea?" Jeremy asked.

"I must be seeing things," Jim said. He walked out of Aeilita's room and closed the door behind him. Yumi ran over to the window and looked down. There truly wasn't anyone there.

"So, where did he go?" Yumi asked. The others all came over to the window as well, and were surprised to see that Ulrich wasn't there.

"Did he seriously ditch us again?" Odd asked annoyed.

"Did who ditch did you?" a voice asked from above. A figure jumped down, one arm hanging from the top of the window.

"Ulrich!" Yumi smiled. They all backed up to give their friend room to go back on the ground.

"How did you get up there?" Odd asked, looking out the window.

"I climbed. It wasn't easy either," Ulrich answered. Yumi stared at the chocolate haired boy as she realized he wasn't the same as before. He was more forthright, and had learned to think ahead. Climbing onto the ledge had been a dangerous move, and then scaling the schools walls had been dangerous, and high up. He no longer showed his vertigo.

"So what do we have to do?" Herb asked Ulrich, getting them back on track.

"Do you want the short version or the long version?" Ulrich asked.

"Short one," Herb said.

"Kill Xana," Ulrich answered. That had indeed been a very short answer.

"So what's the long version?" Odd asked. He expected it to be a few more words, but not many.

"Infiltrate Xana's security system, find his weakness, shut him down, then escape before any of the guards find us or what happened," Ulrich said. That had been many more words.

The gang stared at him, dumbfounded.

"What?" Ulrich asked them.

"Nothing, are we coming to your hideout or staying here?" Yumi asked.

"Hideout's only big enough for 3 people right now, aw man!" Ulrich slapped his forehead.

"Now what?" Jeremy asked.

"Sally and Mike went to get their friends to, and their friends would have to stay in the hideout, but the hideout's only big enough for 3 people so they won't have room," Ulrich said calmly.

"So, just find a bigger hideout before they get back," Nicolas said.

"The entire World thinks I'm dead, remember? Not only that but I'm only 18 still, so I can't just go around looking without arising suspicion," Ulrich said, still calm.

"We can look around for you," Sissi suggested.

"Yeah, that's a great idea! I have a full license now, so I can easily drive around town until I find some place," Yumi said.

"If you're willing to do it, then please do. Plan on finding a place for around 30 people. Between two of us we could probably bring in around 20 people," Ulrich said.

"Any other specifics on what to find?" Yumi said, taking mental notes.

"Plenty of rooms would be good, not to mention a couple bathrooms," Odd added. Ulrich nodded in agreement.

"I'm not going to completely give up vet school yet, but I should be able to look around in the evenings and on the weekends," Yumi said.

"Once you do find one, plan on moving in immediately. If William knows I'm taking more chances out in the open, he's going to be on the lookout for me, and probably you guys as well. It's getting dangerous for you in the open now to," Ulrich said.

"Okay, when I find one I'll let you know—how will I let you know?" Yumi asked.

"I'll stop by your bedroom window every couple of nights. We'll work out arrangements from there. Oh, and when you move in, don't bring more than you can fit in one bag. I don't want you guys looking suspicious," Ulrich said.

"Got it, now how do you plan on getting out of here?" Jeremy asked.

"Simple, I plan on walking out," Ulrich said, smiling. He got up and prepared to go.

"Be careful Ulrich," Yumi said. Ulrich nodded and walked out the door. He kept a brisk pace as he walked off of the school grounds, doing his best not to arise suspicion.

Once out on the streets he pulled his hood on and walked back to his hideout on the edge of town.

-End of Chapter 7-

I didn't leave a cliff hanger! At least not an obvious one…

Please review!

And be grateful I put 2 up in one day.


	8. moving in a volenteer

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko.

I apologize for the wait, I've had a lot going on and I've been brain dead all week.

Without a Trace

Chapter 8

Yumi drove around in a black pries on the outskirts of town looking for a new place for everyone to live. The part of town she was in was mostly abandoned, but none of the houses seemed big enough to fit around 30 people.

She turned down a side street and glanced around, trying in vain to find a new home. The alley was a dead end, leading to a brown door on a large building.

Yumi parked the pries and got out, walked to door, and opened it. The inside was pitch black, but luckily she had planned on that and took a small flashlight out of her pocket and turned it on. The light pierced through the darkness and revealed pieces of furniture covered in white sheets.

She flashed the flashlight around the walls and found a light switch. When she walked over to it, she left footprints in the dust on the floor. Yumi flicked the switch, but nothing happened.

_The light bulb must have burned out._

Yumi explored the rest of the house, and found a total of three bathrooms, 10 bedrooms, and two other rooms that could be used for anything they needed.

_Looks like I finally found us a new house._

Yumi went back down to the bottom floor and walked out the door, making sure to close it tightly behind her.

Later that night Yumi was in her room, studying all the class work she had missed. Her parents had become very concerned about her lately, and hardly left her alone.

Luckily it would be easy to convince them that she was going somewhere else for awhile. All she had to do was say she was moving out with her friends.

There was a knock on her window, and Yumi looked and saw Ulrich, right on time. She opened the window to let the brown haired boy in.

"Have you found anything yet?" he asked right away.

"Believe it or not I did. It's on the very outskirts of town, and looks like it would be big enough to fit three families," Yumi answered.

"Great, we can check it out soon then. What days work for you?" Ulrich asked.

"I'm free tomorrow night. Meet me by the school gates."

Ulrich nodded and left, right before Yumi's parents came in.

"Is there anything we should know about?" her father asked.

"No, nothing at all," Yumi answered. Her parent's looked at her for a few minutes, and then left the room.

Ulrich had inspected the house. Other then needing new light bulbs and possibly new circuitry and a duster it looked like it would work.

Sally had arrived with 2 friends and Mike had arrived with 2 friends as well, making their total number of people 14, which would mean about 2 people to a room. Ulrich had told them about what was going on, and they went to the house right away, having their friends be paired with themselves so that they knew each other.

Sally's friends were: Jason, a red haired boy with good jokes (looks like Odd will have some competition now) and Cassie, a blonde haired girl you don't want on your bad side.

Mike's friends were: Kyle, a brown haired boy with a lot of fighting skills, and Katrina, a black haired girl who knew what she was doing.

Kyle, Katrina, Jason, and Cassie already knew each, so they agreed to share a room with each other. (Jason and Kyle in one room, Katrina and Cassie in another)

It was agreed by the entire group that Ulrich, Sally, and Mike should all have their own room since they were the original reason they were all there.

Odd and Jeremy were sharing a room, Herb and Nicolas were in one room, and the three girls left decided to take one of the larger rooms together. That still left them with 2 bedrooms, which they would use to store extra food or clothes or furniture they didn't need.

The next step after choosing rooms was dusting. They didn't have to worry too much about being seen, so they left the door open and just swept everything out there. Since Jason was allergic to dust, they had him as a lookout just to be safe.

Once that was done they had someone go buy some food with the money they had bought, and the rest of them stayed behind to discover what furniture had been left behind.

The new Lyoko Gang (as they had decided to name themselves) spent about a week renovating the house into something they could actually live in. It was hard work, but they were proud of what they achieved. Now the group had to decide how they were going to find and stop Xana.

"He's probably hiding in the factory, like usual," Jeremy said.

"Wouldn't surprise me if he were," Aeilita added.

"Who exactly is Xana again?" Jason asked.

"A computer virus created by Franz Hopper intended to protect the world. Instead the virus got out of control and has been trying for almost 10 years now to take control of the world. It's our job to stop him," Ulrich explained.

"How have you been fighting him?" Cassie asked.

"Through a virtual world called Lyoko. That's what the factory was for," Yumi said.

"So all we have to do is find where he's hiding, kill him, and then get out before anyone spots us?" Katrina summarized.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it. My plan is that we send one person to the factory to see if that's where Xana is. Once we know we'll all go there and find a way to stop him," Ulrich said.

"When did you get so smart? Last time I checked you couldn't even get a C in math," Odd joked.

"Math is pointless in this kind of thing," Ulrich said.

"Now the question is who's willing to go and risk their lives in order to find out if Xana is in the factory?" Sissi asked everyone.

"I'll do it."

-End of Chapter 8-

Who's going to be the one to go? Review please!

I'm going to try and update a couple times this weekend.


	9. a plan forms

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko

On with the Show! Er. . . Chapter!

Without a Trace

Chapter 9

It was Nicholas who had spoken. He was the one volunteering to risk his life and find out if Xana was hiding in the factory. The original Lyoko Gang stared at him in bewilderment. Ulrich simply nodded.

"You'll have to keep your guard up at all times, and don't trust anyone on the streets," Mike said. Nicholas stood up and readied himself to leave.

"I should be back within an hour to an hour in a half," Nicholas said, and then he walked out the door.

"What do we do while we wait?" Sissi asked.

"I'm not about to sit still for 60 to 90 minutes," Yumi added.

"Too risky to go outdoors, so we don't have a proper training ground

Unless--- Yumi, does this house have a basement?" Ulrich asked.

"I don't know. I never really explored down here that much. I just came in and counted bathrooms and bedrooms."

"Well, we can entertain ourselves with searching for one right now," Ulrich said, getting up and looking around for a door.

Nicholas walked down the street. The factory was in sight now. It had been 2 years since anyone in the group had been to Lyoko, and now, here he was, walking towards the factory where the labs and scanners were located.

He stood on the edge of the bridge closest to the city, checking to see if there were any security cameras. It didn't look like there were any, and there weren't any guards in plain sight either. Nicholas walked across the bridge over to where the ropes they had slid down were located.

The ropes were gone, and the factory floor was crawling with guards. Nicholas peered over the edge, saw the guards as well as the throne on the one side of the floor where a tall figure sat, observing the work the guards were doing.

Not only was Xana's hideout in the factory, but he had a body he was in and could easily overpower the Lyoko Gang.

Nicholas stood up and ran over the bridge to the city. He didn't stop running. He ran all the way back to the abandoned house the Lyoko Gang was now living in.

The Gang had managed to find a basement, and to their joy the lights worked already.

It was a decent sized basement, perfect for training. Sally, Mike, and Ulrich brought their variety of weapons down there.

They heard the sound of pounding feet upstairs, and then coming down the stairs to where the gang was now. It was Nicholas.

"Was Xana there?" Sally asked Nick, who nodded, still trying to catch his breath.

"He also . . . Has a . . . Human body," Nick said in between gasps for air. Yumi ran upstairs to get him a bottle of water.

"If Xana has a body now, that's only going to make things harder for us," Ulrich said.

"I say we take a small group to go fight him and find out what his weaknesses are. The group would only play around with him though, and try not to get too badly hurt," Mike suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea to me. The best group to go would be us original Lyoko warriors. He's used to us, and we knew something of his fighting style," Ulrich said.

"I'm in," Yumi said.

"Count me in," said Odd.

"That goes for me as well," Nick says.

"And me too!" Sissi echoed.

"I still need to get back at him for what he did to my father, so I'm definitely in," Aeilita said.

"I think Herb or Jeremy should stay behind in case we need a computer genius while you're gone," Katrina said.

"I'll go," said Jeremy. "I've been to Lyoko to fight before as well, so I know what to expect better than you do, Herb." Herb nodded.

"Then it's settled we'll go tomorrow morning," Ulrich said.

-End of Chapter 9-

Next chapter should be the beginning of the climax. I think. I still don't know I'm actually planning.

Review!! Review!! Review!! Please!!

I said please!!


	10. the attack

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko

I'm warning you now that there will probably be a cliff hanger. Not sure yet.

You should be glad with all these updates I'm doing this weekend.

Without a Trace

Chapter 10

Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, Aeilita, Jeremy, Sissi, and Nicholas were ready to go. They all had weapons hidden under black cloaks with hoods to conceal their identity.

They were going to fight Xana, face to face. The Lyoko Gang had never done this before, and didn't really want to start now.

The Gang walked out the door, and made their way to the factory; the place where it all started, and the place where it would end.

A half hour later, and they were standing on the bridge. Ulrich led the group over to where the ropes they slid down used to be, and the seven peered over the edge. Xana was sitting in his throne, a smug smile on his face. His guards were running around like ants, doing only heaven knows what.

Ulrich stood up now, and the others did so as well.

"Hey Xana; ready to be defeated?" Ulrich shouted down. Xana looked up at the group with his cold hate-filled eyes. The group jumped down onto the floor, and the guards immediately surrounded them.

"No, leave them to me," a female voice said. The guards left, and they saw Xana walking towards them, and he was the source of the female voice.

"Xana's a girl?" Odd asked.

"It doesn't matter what gender he or she is, we still have to take it down!" Ulrich said. He threw off his cloak and prepared to fight, and the others followed.

Odd grabbed his cross bow and immediately launched an arrow at Xana, and Ulrich followed using his own cross bow.

Yumi ran up behind Xana and kicked him hard in the back while he was busy with the arrows. The arrows lodged themselves into Xana's shoulders.

Aeilita threw one of her daggers at Xana, but missed by mere centimeters. Yumi punched Xana in the back of the head since he still hadn't turn around.

Xana fell forward onto the ground, but used her leg to knock Yumi off her feet as well.

Jeremy ran up with a dagger and tried to stab Xana while she was on the ground, but Xana knocked him off his feet in no time.

Sissi ran up to her with a drawn sword, jumped over Xana's arm, and managed to lodge the sword into Xana's back.

_This is too easy. We're not even going for fatal blows or giving it our all, yet Xana is still losing. Unless, Xana's toying with us to see how strong we've gotten!_ Ulrich thought to himself. He silently cursed at the fact neither side we're giving it their all.

Ulrich ran up to Xana and tried to cut off Xana's head, but Xana rolled out of the way and stood back up, taking out all the weapons lodged into her human body.

Yumi stood back up as well, and stuck a dagger in a vital spot. Xana didn't cry out in pain, and blood didn't come pouring out either. Yumi then looked at some of the other wounds. No blood was around their edges at all.

"I see you're starting to realize that pain doesn't affect me, and that I'm still a virus after all," Xana said.

It clicked for Ulrich then. If Xana was still a virus, then all they had to do was get to the super computer and shut it down. Or even just pour water on Xana and see if he fizzes out like a real computer would. (Don't try it at home)

"You've already realized how to defeat me, but now that means I don't have to hold back!" Xana said, and then charged at the Lyoko warriors with the sword that had been lodged in his back. She made a decent sized cut on everyone's arms, depending on what side of her they were on.

Ulrich held his right arm for a minute, and then grabbed another sword as Xana was running back, and parried the blow.

Xana was stunned at first, but then started pushing on the blade with all she had. Ulrich pushed back, and then had another idea.

Ulrich pushed his blade down to the bottom edge of Xana's blade, ducked down as he moved his sword and cut off Xana's legs.

Xana flipped over Ulrich and landed on her back.

Odd took one of his daggers and stabbed Xana's chest with it, and Nick did so as well.

"It would seem that I look defeated, but I have an ace in the hole!" Xana said. Xana's body de-materialized, as if on Lyoko, and in its place was a bomb.

"Everyone, we've got to get out of here!" Ulrich said as he realized what it was. He was too late.

The bomb went off, enveloping the Lyoko warriors in a bright white light. That was all any of them saw before losing consciousness.

-End of Chapter 10-

I know that you're all mad at me for leaving a cliffie again, but I will most likely update later in the day.

Review please!

I said please!


	11. theories

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko.

This chapter probably won't be that exciting.

Without a Trace

Chapter 11

Ulrich walked down the road to his apartment. It had been a long day for him. Ulrich was a detective for the police now, and many of his friends were cops.

Yumi was a vet now, and had managed to save Kiwi's life two years ago.

Ulrich walked up the stairs to floor 2.

Aeilita was a scientist now, as well as a Jeremy and Herb.

Odd, Sissi, and Nicholas were the cops.

Ulrich opened the door to his apartment and saw Yumi reading a book on the couch.

Mike, Sally, Katrina, Jason, Cassie, and Kyle had all gone back to their home cities.

Ulrich took off his coat and hung it up in the hall closest next to the door, picked up one of his books, and sat down next to Yumi.

"How was work today?" the black haired girl asked.

"Busy as ever. So many murders, so little answers," Ulrich said. Neither of them had looked up from their books. They were both reading a book about Lyoko, seeing as how many people praised them for what they had done.

"It'll get better one of these days," Yumi said.

"Hopefully before our wedding day," Ulrich said. Yumi glanced down at her engagement ring. It was an emerald on a gold band, the best Ulrich's salary could afford.

"I can't believe that we're the first out of the Lyoko Gang to be getting married," Yumi said, resuming her reading.

"And to each other," Ulrich added.

"I'm just glad we defeated Xana long enough ago to be able start our lives before doing so," Yumi said.

"I just can't figure out why none of us can remember _how_ we defeated Xana. We had the upper hand for most of the fight, Xana was on the ground, and he grabbed a sword and started attacking us…"

"Xana was a girl, remember?" Yumi interjected.

"Oh yeah, never understood that either. I parried one of Xana's blows, and then the rest is all a blur, and that's what everyone says," Ulrich finished.

"It's a mystery all right," Yumi said. The fiancés dropped the conversation at that, and continued reading.

Odd and Nick were the only cops at the scene of the crime that night. They had already called Ulrich since he was the detective.

There had been a bank robbery not far from the station. The safe door had been blown right off, and over half the money was stolen. The security cameras had been turned off, so they didn't have any footage to go by.

A very sleepy Ulrich arrived and started examining the crime scene. The only thing he found in the first five minutes was debris. It took longer before he had any finger prints from the drawers that had previously been full of money.

Ulrich drove back down to the station and had the prints scanned. They belonged to none other than William Dunbar.

Ulrich came back to the station at about 9 in the morning with the Lyoko Gang. They went into the office to decide what to make of their classmate now being a thief.

"We haven't heard zilch from him since the day he tried to attack you 5 years ago," Yumi said.

"And even if he is a crook now, why would he come back to a city where people know about him?" Aeilita asked.

"It doesn't add up, and the only thing going through my head right now is the fact that none of us can remember how we defeated Xana," Odd said.

"Maybe we didn't defeat Xana. Maybe we're in some kind of dream sequence where Xana has complete control over us," Ulrich said.

"Are you feeling okay?" Yumi asked.

"Think about it. If none of us can remember how we defeated Xana, and now William shows up, who's to say that isn't true?" Ulrich said.

"The people at the mental institution who are going to lock you up for life," Odd joked. His jokes had gotten better over the years.

"I know it's far fetched, but I'm not going to eliminate the possibility," Ulrich said. Aeilita looked at the clock. It was 9:30.

"Sorry Ulrich, we've got to go," the pink haired girl said as she stood up and walked out the door. The other two scientists walked out as well.

"I should probably go to, I'll be missed at the office if I don't get there soon," Yumi said. She gave Ulrich a kiss on the cheek and walked out.

"You guys should probably start your patrol soon," Ulrich said, scribbling something down on a hand held pad. Sissi, Odd, and Nick walked out of the office, knowing he was right.

The idea Ulrich had brought up hadn't left the minds of the three scientists all day. At about noon they decided to run some tests.

Jeremy looked in the book of Lyoko they all had, and saw it wasn't mentioned at the end how they had defeated Xana.

Herb had looked at all newspapers dating to that time period, and saw that there were no pictures about it either, only a small article acknowledging what the group had done.

Aeilita was busy looking through all files on memory she could find. The best thing she found relating to what had happened was this: The more shock in an experience, the less likely you are to remember it. (This is all random stuff I'm coming up with, so don't use it in a report or something unless you looked it up)

Still, it didn't seem logical that it would have shocked eight people into forgetting what had happened.

There was no data on how they had defeated Xana. There were no memories on how they had defeated Xana. And there were no files logical enough to support why no one had memories on how they defeated Xana.

Was it possible they didn't actually defeat Xana?

-End of Chapter 11-

Had a little more action than I thought, but still not that much, right?

I need to know what you guys think. You need to press the little square on the bottom of the page that says review and leave me a message!


	12. cliffies are fun

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko.

I'm warning you know that there will definitely be a cliffhanger in the end.

You have been warned.

Without a Trace

Chapter 12

Ulrich stared at Aeilita as she told him the news later that day. His theory had been right. The five years the Lyoko Gang had spent since the supposed victory had all been false. Xana had them imprisoned in some sort of dream sequence chamber right now.

What's worse is the fact they had been so easily fooled for so long by their enemy. They had all gotten jobs within the same city, had reached their dream jobs without a hard time, and were living as close to a perfect life as they could get.

"Since it is true, how do we undo the effects and get back to reality?" Yumi asked. They entire Lyoko Gang had met up again in Ulrich's office.

"Our theory is that we can use the scanners that brought us to Lyoko to bring us back to the real world," Jeremy said.

"We'll need a volunteer though," Herb added.

"The dreaded word," Yumi muttered to herself. She remembered all the horrible things that had happened when the genius' had asked for a 'volunteer'. They had nearly lost a few lives of the Lyoko warriors from 'volunteering'.

"It's only fair that I do it. I should have been real with you guys from the start; instead I got us into a huge mess," Ulrich said.

"You don't always have to be the hero you know," Odd said.

"So you're willing to risk your life by doing this, and if it succeeds free the rest of us before one of Xana's guards find you and capture you and force you to face Xana again on your own?" Ulrich asked.

"No, I was just saying that you don't always have to be the hero," Odd said. "Feel free to do it though."

Everyone laughed at his joke. (I know scary, Odd made a real joke)

"If you're really willing to do this Ulrich, we'll probably be ready to do it tomorrow," Jeremy said. Ulrich nodded.

Ulrich and Yumi were enjoying their last night together in the dream world. They were eating dinner at a fancy restaurant that no one who actually needed the money for other things would normally go to.

"Ulrich?" Yumi said, getting the brunettes attention. He looked up at her. "Promise me one thing before you go."

"Anything for you," Ulrich said.

"Don't forget what almost happened here," Yumi said, fidgeting with her engagement ring. Ulrich understood that she meant 'don't forget we loved each other enough to get married'.

"How could I ever forget? I've loved you since the first day I laid eyes on you."

"I know you won't, but can you also promise me that no matter what happens in the real world, you won't get yourself killed?" Yumi asked him. Ulrich was stunned she cared this much to worry so hard for his safety.

"I can't make a true promise for that since I can't control destiny, but I can promise I'll do my best not to get killed," Ulrich said, a sympathetic look in his eyes. Yumi smiled at him, but her eyes were full of sadness.

The next morning seemed to come faster than it should have for the Lyoko gang. All seven of them were at the factory by nine a.m. wondering what would happen. (Seven wonders of the world!)

Yumi was clutching Ulrich, not wanting to let her love go. He seemed very reluctant to leave her and climb down the ladder that went down to the scanner room.

It all seemed like a serious case of Déjà vu to him, being in the factory, climbing down the ladder from the lab above to the scanners below. The eerie lights that were always on, (seriously, the scanner room is always orange, and the lab is always green! Didn't they have money to pay for some decent light fixtures?)

Ulrich stepped into one of the scanners and turned around, and all too familiar move. The doors of the scanner closed around him as Jeremy went through the familiar routine. Somehow the genius had managed to remember how to do it throughout the years, even though he hasn't done in over five years.

"Scanner Ulrich."

"Transfer Ulrich."

"Virtualization!"

Ulrich heard the last word, and didn't see how it worked with what was going on. He closed his eyes as his mind and body were removed from the dream sequence.

He opened them to reveal…

-End of Chapter 12-

I did warn you I was going to do that.

Weekends over now, so I don't know when I'll update again. Probably going to depend on how many threats I get and if they're actually threatening enough.

So if you want me to update, whether it be a threat, flame, or compliment, press the little square at the bottom of the page that says 'go' on it and leave on of the said three options!


	13. moment of truth

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko.

Here we go! Let's find out what happened while the Lyoko Warriors were in the dream sequence!

Without a Trace

Chapter 13

Sorry, but before I continue with the chapter there's something I need to explain.

My friend asked me who Sally and Mike are, and I realized I never fully explained that.

Ulrich, Sally, and Mike are part of an organization that has known about Xana since the day he was created. In an effort to shut Xana down permanently, the organization sent those three kids to three boarding schools near where they figured Franz Hopper would have set up the Super computer.

Ulrich happened to be the one sent to the boarding school near the super computer, so he secretly (And accidentally) recruited new members for his Organization by creating the Lyoko Gang.

When it became too dangerous for Ulrich, Sally, and Mike to be out on the streets they went into hiding in the city Ulrich was in since that was where the super computer was located. And thus, our story begins!

Hope that cleared up any questions!

Ulrich opened his eyes for the first time in five years. He squinted against the bright light that reflected against the glass container he was in. At first he was confused on where he was, but then everything came to him in a rush.

His Organization;

Xana;

Lyoko;

The dream sequence;

_The dream sequence! That's where I've been for the past five years, and the scanners worked! How do I free the others? How do I free myself?_

Ulrich looked at his surroundings once again, and realized he was in a glass container on a pedestal about 2 feet high next to Yumi and Odd, both being held in similar containers.

_Xana had us on display! The brute. _(I don't like cursing)

Ulrich pushed against the glass. There weren't any doors, and no one was going to come hit the release button that forced the glass up.

_Looks like I'll have to break it to get out._

Ulrich shoved all his weight against the glass. It rocked a little, but not enough to do anything. He tried again, and then shoved his weight against the back of the container while the glass was moving forward.

The container shook violently, and Ulrich repeated the pattern, determined to get free. It took a few more tries, but the glass container finally tipped far enough backwards to topple over and fall, shattering the glass all over the floor. Ulrich heard voices, and hid himself behind the container Odd was in, being careful to duck down far enough to avoid being seen.

"What was that?" a guard called from down the hall. Ulrich felt something warm drip down the side of his face, and realized one the glass shards had cut him right above his left eyebrow.

Footsteps could be heard from down the white hall. The light still threatened to blind Ulrich. Guards came rushing into the room, and immediately noticed the broken container.

"One's missing!" a guard shouted. Ulrich readied himself to run at a moments notice.

"Search the palace! He couldn't have gotten far!" another shouted. The guards all ran off in different directions, determined to find Ulrich. No one looked behind the pedestals though, so Ulrich was safe.

After a few minutes the noise died down, and Ulrich got up and prepared to free his friends when he heard the sound of footsteps. His friends would have to wait if they wanted to get out alive.

Ulrich looked at the black haired Japanese girl, and reluctantly turned on his heel and ran out the door, trying to find a way out.

After a half hour of running around Xana's palace and avoiding the multiple guards, Ulrich managed to find a way out, and he was in disgust with what he saw.

The sky was an ashy black color, and the buildings were all black with red eyes of Xana on them. The road was all dirt and the sidewalks a musty red color, most likely stained with blood.

There were black electronic screen boards posted on every corner of the streets and on every tall building, each with an eye of Xana on it.

Ulrich roamed the streets, trying to figure out what to do. He didn't know if any of his friends were alive, or even if they were in this city.

"He's over there!" a guard yelled, waking Ulrich from his thoughts. He turned and saw the guards running at him, silver machetes drawn and ready to slice him in half.

Ulrich yet again ran ahead and turned a corner, not having a single clue as to where he was going. He looked behind him and luckily, to his relief, the guards had yet to turn the corner. The brown haired boy ran into something with so much force he ended up flipping over the object and landing square on his back a few feet ahead of where he had last felt ground.

"Hey, watch where you're going- Ulrich?" a voice asked, looking at the boy who was on the ground with a careful eye. It took Ulrich a few moments to realize who the boy was.

"Mike, is that you?" The said boy smiled and helped the brunette get to his feet.

"The one and only, now where've you been the past five years?" Mike asked.

"No time right now. I've got guards chasing me down," Ulrich said. As if on cue, the guards appeared from the corner, still running.

"Follow me, and keep up!" Mike said, taking off down the street. Ulrich followed, not knowing what to expect.

Then again, in a world ruled by the Xana, the expected is the unexpected.

-End of Chapter 13-

Don't ask about the last line. It seemed like it fit so I put it in there.

Any questions, flames, compliments, suggestion? If so, then press the little square button at the bottom of the page and leave a review.

Anything you have to say is welcome, as long as it isn't harsh.


	14. a very long rescue

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko.

I'm updating as fast I can with school work, so do not pester me about it!

Without a Trace

Chapter 14

Mike turned down several streets and alleyways, Ulrich just barely managing to keep him in sight. The black haired boy didn't slow down at all, forcing Ulrich to keep up the hard pace, which wasn't easy when you've been asleep for the past 5 years.

After what seemed like hours, (but really was only 10 minutes) Mike stopped before a large abandoned house, and did a secret knock to open the door. Mike went in and motioned for Ulrich to follow.

The room Ulrich was in was only lighted by the dim glow of a candle off to the sides of the room. There were many chairs set up in a circle, all except one occupied. The people in the chairs looked at Ulrich as if he were a ghost.

Ulrich scanned the room, looking at all the faces. He immediately picked up on many of them. There was:

Sally;

Jason;

Katrina;

Cassie;

Kyle;

Millie and Tamia; (does anyone know how to spell her name?)

And Hiroke.

"Welcome to The Resistance," Mike said, gesturing with his hand at everyone.

"Everyone here resists Xana?" Ulrich said, still not believing what was happening.

"We don't exactly like the idea of having our world ruled by one person, let alone a computer virus," one of the unknown faces said.

"Who are you anyway?" another said. They seemed to be the only ones Ulrich didn't already know.

"This is Ulrich, part of the original Lyoko Gang. That's Cali and Greg. Now where've you been for the past five years?" Mike asked.

"Xana's prisoner," Ulrich answered.

"You don't look like you've been held a prisoner. Your clothes are still intact, other than the fact they're too small," said Cali. Ulrich looked down at his clothes for the first time since waking up. They were indeed a few sizes too small for him now.

"Xana had all of us trapped in some sort of dream sequence chamber. We just figured out yesterday we weren't living our normal lives. The others are still trapped there though, so when are we doing a rescue mission for them?" Ulrich asked.

"Hold your horses, we find you after five years of thinking you're dead and now you want us to go to Xana's Palace and get more of you out?" Sally asked.

"Um, yeah pretty much," Ulrich said.

"So let's do it!" Greg said.

"He's the hyper one of the group," Mike whispered to Ulrich, who simply nodded.

"Not until tomorrow when the guard patrol has died down a little. Xana's not going to let Ulrich get back in and save his friends that easily, so he's still likely to have the place heavily guarded but not as much tomorrow. He'll expect Ulrich to try and save his friends right away," Katrina said.

"Besides, you need some new clothes right now anyway, and it'd be better to have some for the others as well," Cassie added.

"We'll spend tonight planning, and then tomorrow we'll put the plan into action," Mike said. The others all nodded.

(Bet you thought I would end it here, didn't you?)

The plan was all set and ready to go, and today they were going to rescue the others. Ulrich had new clothes on that fit him, consisting of green sweatshirt hoody and dark blue jeans.

The Resistance was walking to Xana's Palace from five different directions in groups of two in order to avoid suspicion. Ulrich was with Mike, Sally with Cassie, Kyle with Tamia, Millie with Hiroke, and Jason was with Katrina.

They were all nervous about the plan, seeing as how it involved a huge amount of risk on all of their parts, especially Ulrich's, but were willing to do it if it meant freeing some of Xana's prisoners who were needed to help end his reign.

Kyle and Tamia reached the Palace first, seeing as they were the distraction for the front gate guards.

"Um, excuse me, but we're a little lost," Kyle said. Tamia then began her part as the arguer.

"A little? You should have simply made that one turn five minutes ago and we'd be where we wanted to be! But no, you had to go straight. You had to think I was wrong!" said Tamia.

"Well excuse me if I don't know my way around here that well with all the turns and the streets and the other streets!" Kyle yelled back at her.

"Now calm down you two, we'll have this fixed in no time. Now where is that you're trying to go?" the guard on their left asked them.

"It was. . . Let me see. . ." Kyle said.

"You forgot again, didn't you?!" Tamia yelled at him, smacking him on his head as well.

"Well if you remember then why don't you tell them?!" Kyle asked.

"Because you never told me where we were going, you wanted it to be a surprise!" Tamia said, smacking Kyle on the back of the head again.

"Will you stop hitting me? It's not going to make me remember any faster!" Kyle yelled at her.

"No, I'll keep hitting you on the head as long as I want to!" Tamia said, bopping him on the head and forcing him to fall on the ground.

"Lovers quarrel," one guard whispered to the other one, who nodded in agreement.

"That does it!" Kyle said, and pounced on Tamia, knocking her on the ground.

"Enough you two!" one guard yelled. The two on the ground ignored him. Tamia threw a punch at Kyle, who moved his head aside.

The guards came over to break them apart, and when they turned their back Millie and Hiroke sneaked in through the gates. They were pretending to admire the gardens around them and the structure of the castle, and basically look innocent.

Tamia and Kyle were still wrestling on the ground. Tamia threw another punch, and actually hit Kyle in the eye by mistake. The guards were still trying to tear them apart from each other while Ulrich and Mike slipped in.

Ulrich had his hood up to avoid being recognized, but made it look like he just preferred it up while he looked around. Besides, with the clouds always a dark gray, you never really did know when it was going to rain.

Kyle slapped Tamia across the face. They were actually in a real fight now, not just one meant to distract the guards. Tamia kneed Kyle in the gut. The guards made the mistake of coming to close and got punched by Tamia when Kyle avoided it.

"That's enough you two!" the one yelled and grabbed Kyle, who simply kicked the guard below the belt. The guard fell over, and the other one came over to help him while Cassie and Sally snuck in behind them.

The guard who hadn't been kicked grabbed Kyle's arm and threw him against the wall opposite the gate, meaning Jason and Katrina were able to stroll right in. The other one got up weakly, and did the same with Tamia.

"You two have been quite a nuisance. Now where is it that you want to go?" the guard who had been kicked asked them.

"Now I remember; we were walking to that fancy restaurant in the center of town!" Kyle exclaimed.

"You must have a poor memory not to remember that," the one guard muttered under his breath. Kyle and Tamia looked at each other and nodded, and then upper-cutted the guards, sending them flying through the air, giving them the perfect chance to run inside the Palace walls.

(Bet you thought I would have ended it here to!)

Ulrich and Mike ran through the halls of the palace first after they had met up with everyone. Ulrich had taken down his hood, leaving his face wide open to be recognized. The more guards they passed the better, because it meant fewer guards were guarding his friends.

Right now the two had about 30 guards chasing them right now, oh wait, and change that to 35 seeing as they had just passed another room.

The others had split back into their groups of two in order to find the room where Ulrich had been. Luckily with Ulrich running around the Palace most of the guards were chasing him instead of doing what they were actually there to do.

Kyle and Tamia stayed at the meeting place, seeing as Kyle needed to nurse his black eye.

"That was a hard hit!" he complained.

"That's why you were supposed to avoid it," Tamia said, rubbing her sore cheek.

"Still, you could have made your arm go off course and avoided half the fight."

"You slapped me pretty hard as well, so we're even. Now be quiet before we're heard!"

Ulrich and Mike were still running around like maniacs, drawing attention to them and running for their lives with each new batch of guards they caught. Now they had about 55 chasing them down.

Jason and Katrina were not having much luck at all. The very first door they opened was a door that led to a room full of guards, who most likely would have preferred the door to stay closed. They were now running down the hall themselves trying not to get caught.

Sally and Cassie were opening every door they came across, most of them being empty store rooms. Ulrich and Mike accidentally ran by them and got them involved in the chase, which now had about 70 guards.

Hiroke and Millie had already found the room with the original Lyoko Gang. The glass had yet to be picked up from when Ulrich freed himself. The walked over to the release button and hit it hard. The glass moved up a little, stopped to release the gas keeping the warriors asleep, then moved up the rest of the way.

The Warriors fell off the pedestal when taking a step, not realizing they were on a pedestal. Hiroke ran to his sister and gave her a hug (I know it seems odd, but he hasn't seen her in 5 years. You would probably hug your sibling after not seeing them for that long a time period too).

"Hiroke, where's Ulrich?" Yumi asked, studying her younger brother. "You are Hiroke right?"

"Yes, I am, and Ulrich's running around the Palace right now distracting the guards. Right now we need to get you guys out of here," Hiroke said, helping his sister get her balance and then helping some others while Millie kept watch.

"Ulrich's coming down this way with at least a hundred guards chasing him. We need to move it, NOW!" Millie said. The Lyoko Warriors nodded and followed their rescuers down the hall.

As Ulrich passed through the hall a few minutes later he saw that his friends were free.

"Mission a success," he said Mike, Sally and Cassie. They all smiled, happy that they could finally get out of the castle and relax for a few minutes. Ulrich turned down one corner, and then quickly down another before the guards had seen him, the others following him. They watched as the guards ran right by them, and then ran out of that hall and back down the way they had come.

(I could have ended it here)

(But I didn't)

They had all met up in the meeting place, Ulrich and Yumi exchanging a long hug between each other before running out the Palace gates. The Warriors were shocked to see that Xana had taken over while they were in the dream sequence.

Running down many streets and turning many corners they finally arrived at the abandoned house (which by the way is the same one from before the warriors had been captured) and all just collapsed on the floor.

"I never want to do that again!" Ulrich said. His legs burned from running so long and so fast and from avoiding the grasps of a hundred guards.

"I'm just glad we're together again," Yumi said. She was obviously next to Ulrich.

"What happened in the dream sequence you were in?" Sally asked.

"Lots of stuff; only major thing is that these two lovebirds were engaged to be married before we figured out it was all just a dream," Odd said. Yumi and Ulrich blushed.

"Can we talk about this tomorrow please? I seriously just want to go to sleep right now," Ulrich said.

"I agree, we'll explain everything tomorrow," Yumi said, and then closed her eyes on Ulrich's chest.

-End of Chapter 14-

That's the longest chapter I've ever written, a total of 8 pages. You're not getting anything else out of me until the weekend because this was originally going to be about 4 chapters but I decided to be nice and condense it and not leave a big cliffhanger.

You should be grateful.

Now leave me a review please.


	15. past revealed, plans made

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko.

Alright, it's the weekend, and we all know what that means!

I work myself overboard to provide you with many more updates!

Without a Trace

Chapter 15

The Resistance woke up the next morning well rested. Katrina lit the candles around the room to give them some light while Sally made breakfast.

"So what happened while we were sleeping?" Odd asked.

"The day you left was the day Xana began attacking everyone. It had only been about 2 hours after you had gone to the factory, and when she was the one who showed up at our door we assumed the worst. We didn't think he would want to just capture his greatest threats, especially when they can get out of anything," Mike started.

"It was possibly one of the worst days in history. If anyone was in Xana's way, she immediately killed them. Some of the housed in this city are actually full of rotting corpses because we ran out of room in the cemetery. The government knew this city didn't stand a chance against Xana, and surrendered in 10 minutes," Sally continued.

"Xana then called an emergency town meeting, and everyone reported there, whether by force or by will. She had us all in a line about a few miles long, and Xana actually walked down the whole line. If you were acceptable you were told to step back 10 paces, and if you weren't you stepped forward 10. Mainly people who were out of shape or over 50 had to step forward, as well as any children under 5," Jason said.

"Mom and dad were both killed that day," Hiroke told Yumi. Tears were already falling down Hiroke's face, and they threatened to fall down Yumi's as well.

"From that day on the sky seemed to always get a little darker as Xana traveled the world, doing the same thing to the world as he did to our city. About a week after that day the sky was the color you see now, and Xana had succeeded in taking over the world," Milly said.

"We would have done something against it, but we really didn't know what the four of us could do against an entire army other than raise a Resistance," Kyle said.

"And believe us, if we had known you were trapped in a dream sequence, we would have gone and tried to save you immediately," Sally told the Lyoko Warriors.

"The Earth is falling apart. It's governed by one ruler; thousands of people are murdered every day; and worst of all, not many people are actually willing to join the resistance," Cassie said.

"So, what happened in the dream sequence?" Greg asked.

"This and that, major thing is that Ulrich and Yumi were engaged," Odd said.

"Are, we are engaged," Ulrich corrected.

"You mean, you still want to? Even in this quagmire?" Yumi asked.

"We'll have to postpone it for awhile, but yeah, I do," Ulrich said. Yumi smiled at the hidden joke.

"So, what else happened?" Sally asked.

"Jeremy, Herb, and I were all scientist at a lab that replaced the factory," Aeilita said.

"Ulrich was a detective, Nick, Sissi, and I was all cops at the same station," Odd said.

"I became a veterinarian," Yumi said.

"Too bad you had to leave that life and come back to this dark cruel one," Cali said.

"Yeah, but you need our help," Odd said.

"Are you saying that we wouldn't have been able to stop Xana without you?" Tamiya asked.

"Possibly," Odd said. Tamiya came over and whacked him on the head.

"It's been five years and Odd still can't figure out what the ladies want," Ulrich muttered. Yumi was the only one who heard, and so she was the only one who laughed.

"Now the question is 'what's our plan to stop Xana'?" Mike asked.

"Well, obviously we're not going in to find his weaknesses, that didn't work too well last time. I don't really think charging in there would work either," Herb said.

"Maybe we could secretly tell the whole city that we're planning to confront Xana herself. They might be willing to help," Nicholas suggested.

"Or they could be traitors and warn Xana of what our plan is," Sissi said.

"Unless we ask them if they are with Xana or against her," Aeilita said.

"Whether they are traitors or not, that's a chance we'll have to take. We can go around the city today, let them know that our plan is to attack Xana herself tomorrow, and then see how they react," Jeremy suggested.

"Not a bad idea, but we should do it in groups again, and this time we'll have to do it with the cloaks so that no one recognizes us," Mike said.

"Agreed," Ulrich said.

-End of Chapter 15-

Getting to a big battle now! I warn you advance there will definitely be many cliffhangers in the future.

Review please!


	16. HELP!

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko.

This chapter is going to be short, seeing as I'm running low on ideas.

Without a Trace

Chapter 16

The Resistance had gone to every house in the city, making sure to stay hidden in the shadows and out of sight from the guards. Most of the people were more than willing to help them defeat Xana, but some didn't want to get involved.

No one in the entire city was going to tell Xana their plan.

"So we have the whole city on our side now. What's our strategy of getting into the palace?" Sissi asked.

"I haven't gotten that far," Ulrich admitted.

"It's obvious we're not going to be able to sneak in like last time, so let's try a regular siege," Mike suggested.

"We'll have to distribute the weapons then between the whole cities then," Sally said.

"I actually mentioned to everyone who was coming to bring their own weapons," Ulrich said.

"I did too," Yumi said.

"Mentioned they would probably need their own weapons," Odd said. The whole original Lyoko Warriors had told everyone that.

"So we'll still have to distribute the weapons, just not around as many people," Sally said.

"We should come in waves, Ulrich, Mike, and Sally should lead three different groups," Jeremy said.

And so the plan evolved.

-End of Chapter 16-

I warned you it would be short, and I wasn't kidding.

I am out of ideas. Review PLEASE and tell me what you want to happen. I won't be able to update until I know more of what you guys want and what the heck I'm going to do in the next chapter.


	17. a discovery is made

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko.

Okay, it's been awhile since I updated, and you probably all want to kill me again, so here's the next chapter, and yes, I know it's not that good of one.

Without a Trace

Chapter 17

Ulrich was leading his group of Yumi, Katrina, Jason, Greg, and Odd. Mike's group was him, Cassie, Cali, Aeilita, Jeremy, Sissi, and Herb. Sally's was: her, Nick, Hiroki, Milly, Tamia, and Kyle. (I don't think I'm missing anybody, but if I am let me know)

Ulrich's group was going to infiltrate Xana's palace from the east side, the side on the right side of the city. They were going to use a boat to get across the river that had become Xana's moat. Mike's group was going to use the main entrance as simple peasants of the city requesting an audience with Xana. They were also hoping that not all that many other city folk would be joining them. If they did then The Resistance would just do a regular siege and storm the Palace. 14 civilians had already joined with Ulrich's group, and by using the walkie talkies they had found 14 had joined the other groups as well.

Regular siege it is.

The palace was in view, and so were the other groups, but only just barely. Everyone knew this would be no easy fight, but everyone hated Xana with a passion, so the will of determination was on their side.

Ulrich had gone with one of the city folk to take out the two guards, and when that had been accomplished his entire group charged at the Palace, screaming their war cries. Mike and Sally's group had done the same.

Xana's palace was surrounded with mutiny. Everywhere she looked there was a group of city folk taking out each and every one of her look alike guards. This did not bode well for her at all.

Mike had used one of his daggers to stab one of the guards. No blood had come out, and come to think of it no blood had come out from the two sentries either.

The skin on the guard melted away to reveal a modified Tarantula from Lyoko that could walk on two legs without problem. _Their just Lyoko monsters, and that means we can go all out on them!_

"Everyone," Mike called, "these aren't real people! They're just machinery!"

Ulrich had heard Mike's voice, and understood it immediately. He sheathed the dagger he was currently using and took out his katana. Knowing that this person in front of him wasn't actually a person made what he was about to do a lot more bearable: he decapitated him.

The useless head rolled away, the wires fizzing from being cut like that. Yumi had watched Ulrich do so, and when she saw it was a machine a scary, almost evil smile spread across her face.

Xana had neglected to fix his weak spot in his defense. These guards could easily be taken down, which meant Xana would be fighting an army alone.

-End of chapter 17-

Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was shorter than expected. I will hopefully be updating more since I not in as bad a brain freeze mode, No thanks you reviewers.

Still, I would like to know what you think of my story, and whether or not you actually review I will be finishing this story for myself.


	18. things go bad

Disclaimer: I do not own Code: Lyoko

Disclaimer: I do not own Code: Lyoko.

I'm going to try and do a once a week update thing.

Without a Trace

Chapter 18

The siege had been going on for an hour now. The tide of war looked like it was in the Resistance's favor. The robotic guards were easy to take down since they were not human and that seemed to be Xana's only line of defense right now

There were very few guards still fighting now. There were however very many guards lying unplugged on the ground now.

Mike took his dagger and sliced through the neck of the one he was fighting, which was the last one.

"Okay, on to Xana!" Sally said. The civilians cheered, all except one. This one civilian had black hair down to his shoulders, and seemed to wield a long length weapon at all times. Ulrich had been keeping an eye on him, and noticed that this particular civilian hadn't been fighting too hard, and had probably only killed about five guards the entire time.

"I'm so glad you wish to see me, but the only way I wish to see you is on the floor dead!" a voice said from the wall surrounding the courtyard they had been fighting in. Everyone looked up and saw Xana.

"Give it up Xana! The whole population of the world is against you, and you are up against an army alone right now!" Ulrich called up to her.

"Is that so _Ulrich_ or do you wish to be called by your real name now?" Xana teased.

"What's she talking about?" Sally asked.

"I'll explain later!" Ulrich answered.

"Right now, we fight this monster!" a civilian called. Everyone gave off a battle cry and charged forward.

"Oh dear, whatever shall I do? It seems poor little me is up against an entire army and all I can do is bring back the guards they already destroyed," Xana said in a helpless voice. The guards on the ground started to get up, repairing whatever was damaged.

If it was just a head a body would appear.

If it was just a body a head would appear.

If a limb was missing that limb would grow back.

If there was a hole in the body the hole would repair itself.

If there was a weapon on the ground the guards would grab it and start attacking the Resistance with it.

"Civilians, take care of the guards! Original Resistance, we fight Xana!" Ulrich said. Everyone obeyed without complaint, except the one civilian who didn't seem to have an interest in killing anybody. He followed the original Resistance.

O. Resistance made their way to Xana without any restraint. The guards were too busy with the Civilians to even notice the group slipping by them.

Ulrich threw a dagger at Xana, which was easily deflected. Mike tried a grenade, which was sent into the air and blowing up above everyone's head. Yumi charged at Xana with a dagger, and was pushed aside into the wall.

"Everyone, we have to attack at once!" Sally said. Everyone took out a few daggers and threw them at Xana, who easily sidestepped to avoid them. Yumi was on that side though so Xana ended up sidestepping into a dagger.

Ulrich charged at Xana with a katana already drawn, ready to make the final strike.

"Now William!" Xana cried out. The odd civilian boy charged at Ulrich from the side, a big sword (the one he used on Lyoko, I don't know what it's called) drawn.

Luckily Ulrich had seen William coming from the corner of his eye and was able to block the attack. Xana grabbed Yumi's hand and dragged her along with him towards a door.

"YUMI!" Ulrich called, still battling William. The rest of the Resistance was fighting off guards and couldn't do anything to help.

Ulrich pushed William off and swung his katana at the boy. A guard came at Ulrich from another angle, so Ulrich grabbed his other katana to defend himself from the guard and William, who was back on his feet and ready for action.

William brought his sword over his head, and then swung down hard on Ulrich with all his might. Ulrich had jumped back, but not before the sword had done some damage on Ulrich's arm.

"AHH!" Ulrich cried out in pain as blood trailed down his arm. Mike glanced over at him and saw that his friend was wounded.

Ulrich dropped the katana in his hand after losing all feeling his wounded right arm. William was bringing his sword down for the final blow when…

CLIFFIE!!

-End of Chapter 18-

I only did that because a) I haven't done one in a while. B) It's fun. And c) I doesn't know what I want to happen yet.

This might possibly be my last night of safety now…


	19. the end

Disclaimer: I do not own code Lyoko for the 19th time

Disclaimer: I do not own code Lyoko for the 19th time!

I'm hoping your search for me did not go well because I'm still here and writing!

I guess I've made you wait long enough for an update.

Without a Trace 19

Yumi was being dragged somewhere, but exactly where she was going was unknown to her. Weapons were useless right now, so Yumi had to go wherever Xana was taking her.

Xana just wanted to see Ulrich squirm. He was the key to the group. Without him the group would have never been started, and without him neither would have the Resistance.

William had recently had some upgrades to handle anything Ulrich did, so seeing Ulrich die would be a long awaited pleasure. Seeing the final look on his face when he sees his darling Yumi in her hands would be even sweeter.

Xana led Yumi to the tower door and pushed her in first. With Xana blocking the door the only way out would be the window, and Yumi was daring enough to try it.

Right on schedule as soon as Yumi was released she ran to the window. This tower overlooked the courtyard which was where the fight was taking place, and this tower wasn't even that high up, but before Yumi could jump, she saw where Ulrich was, and also saw where William was.

Xana laughed at the hesitation, knowing the sight she saw already. Walking over to the window, Xana went to watch her best opponent fall to William's blade.

"Ulrich!" Yumi cried.

The sound of Yumi's voice so loud yet so far away ceased all fighting, at least momentarily. Even William stopped mid-swing at the surprise. Ulrich looked up at the tower, and saw Yumi, as well as Xana.

Instead of looking at the tower like everyone else, Odd looked at the position Ulrich was in, and that position was not a good one.

The fighting started up again almost as quickly as it had stopped. Ulrich hadn't had time to move though, and William was pretty quick with his huge sword (that I still don't know the name of)

"Call him off Xana! Call William off! I'll do anything!" Yumi pleaded.

"And why should I stop the death of someone who is always ruining my plans? I've been waiting for this day for a long time," Xana said.

"Call William off!" Yumi said again. Knowing now Xana wouldn't and that Yumi wouldn't be able to get there in time, Yumi pounced on Xana.

First Yumi punched Xana in the face. Then she quickly unsheathed one of her daggers and stabbed Xana's arm. In a wild rage Yumi did whatever damage she could to Xana.

Kicking here, stabbing there, punching here, and even biting here and there, Yumi quickly forced Xana to do something very out of character: Xana stopped resisting. Knowing Yumi had anger and rage against her, Xana also knew that she had been defeated.

Unfortunately, once you kill someone's one true love, they don't give mercy.

Yumi was still flailing about Xana with her dagger, and one blow hit Xana right where the heart is. Although, being a virus like thingy hearts don't have any affect on Xana's lifespan.

Of course Yumi was still in her rage, so she didn't stop there. Swinging her dagger left and right and up and down, Yumi managed to sever many of Xana's limbs, including her head.

(I'm not going into any gory details about this because I don't want to have to worry about the rating. I'm sure you all have imaginations, so picture what you think would happen when Xana lost her head)

Ulrich was bleeding badly on the ground. Odd had managed to push William enough the blow wasn't as hard or deep, but it still hurt like crazy and was still there.

William had swung down on Ulrich's shoulder. Muscles had been severed and Ulrich would be lucky if he could ever use his left arm again.

Yumi had disappeared from the window awhile ago, and from the sounds of it was busy fighting Xana in hand to hand combat.

There was nothing Ulrich could do for Yumi right now, not when he was feeling very dizzy from loss of blood.

Odd was taking William on right now, and Ulrich was sure everyone else was busy fighting one of the guards.

Ulrich's vision was becoming blurry, and it was hard for him to focus on anything. The very edge of his sight was black, and that edge was getting smaller and smaller as the moments went by.

Sounds went in Ulrich's ear, but they didn't register, they didn't feel like they were actually there. Everything seemed distant. Nothing made sense anymore.

Sally pushed another guard away. Before anymore could come attack her, she sprinted over to where Ulrich lay bleeding on the ground. The wound was deep, but thanks to Odd, Ulrich would probably live through this…

…Maybe.

There was already much blood loss from various things, but this cut would be pushing it. Sally grabbed her dagger and cut off the bottom of her cloak to use as a bandage. It might not be very sanitary, but infections were actually at the bottom of their 'worry about right now' lists.

At the very top of that list was STAYING ALIVE AND KEEPING EVERYONE ELSE ALIVE!!

Glancing up at the window Yumi had been in, Sally saw Yumi jumping out the window, landing perfectly on the ground, and running towards Ulrich at full speed, knocking over anyone in her way.

"How is he?" Yumi immediately asked.

"He'll probably fall into unconsciousness, but he should live. The cut isn't deep or wide, but it still hit a muscle tendon, so he might lose the use of his left arm," Sally replied. How she learned what she was talking about is unknown.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"We should probably get him out of here, that's for sure. Xana will want to take advantage of this moment, and in fact I'm surprised she hasn't already," Sally replied.

"You won't have to worry about Xana. She made the mistake of locking herself in a room with a girl with many weapons and making said girl think her one true love is dead," Yumi said.

"Uh, I don't think I want to know how you did it," Sally said.

"Wise choice."

Sally just stared at Yumi for a few moments before shaking her head, trying to clear it.

Ulrich had lost consciousness now, the lack of blood getting to him.

"We've got to find a way to stop the bleeding, and then we'll need to find a way to reproduce the blood that he's lost," Yumi said. Sally stared at her again. "I was a veterinarian in the dream sequence."

"I don't think we'll have to worry about any animals right now, just Ulrich," Sally said.

"Same concept, and we still need a way to reverse the bleeding," Yumi said.

A civilian walked up to them, most of the fighting had stopped. More people had joined with Odd to fight William.

"I'm a doctor, it might be better if I had a look at him," he said. His brown eyes held truth to what he said, and right now he was their only hope.

-End of Chapter 19-

I'm almost done!! I have like, one more chapter to finish it up, and then I'm done!

Sorry about the late update.


	20. the real end

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko.

This is the last chapter!

Without a Trace

Chapter 20

Ulrich awoke in a dark room on a soft bed. His shoulder was bandaged as well as many other parts of his body.

Slowly the memory of what happened came back to him. The fight with William, the battle against the guards, and seeing Yumi captured by Xana.

Ulrich thought back to the dream simulation chamber he had been in for the past five years. He had been engaged to Yumi, but was she still alive?

A light turned on, temporarily blinding Ulrich. Once his eyes adjusted, he saw a raven haired woman standing over him with a huge smile on her face.

"About time you finally woke up," Yumi said. Ulrich smiled.

"How about next time you fight William and I'll get captured by Xana," Ulrich said.

"There won't be a next time though. I killed Xana and Odd killed William. The city is returning back to normal, as is the rest of the world. You should see what it's like outside," Yumi said.

"I think I'd rather be able to feel my arm first," said Ulrich.

"It's not going to heal for at least a few months. Until then it'll be in a sling with a cast."

"I figured that, I am a detective after all," said Ulrich.

"Hmm, a detective engaged to the savior of the world. How does that sound?"

"Like the perfect idea anyone has ever though of," Ulrich said.

"The doctor said you were free to leave as soon as you woke up, so let's go let the gang know that you're okay!" Yumi said. She helped Ulrich to his feet and led him down a series of hallways that would have had a lab rat running in circles.

Yumi opened a door that led to a conference room. Instead of a big table there is a bunch of couches in the middle of the room all facing each one another.

On the couches were Odd, Aeilita, Jeremy, Herb, Nick, Sissi, Mike, Sally, Jason, Hiroke, Millie, Tamia, Katrina, Cali, and all the others from the Original resistance.

"Look who decided to wake up!" Odd said.

"Have I really been out that long?"

"Nah, about a day maybe," Nick said.

"When's the wedding?" Sissi bravely asked.

"What?" Yumi said.

"One thing at a time here please," Ulrich said.

"Right, first you have to decide who to invite, time and place, and then the date," Sissi said.

"I think he meant that the first thing we have to do is give his arm time to heal," Yumi said. Ulrich nodded once.

"Not only that but we'll have to help get the world back into order. Responsibility before pleasure in this case," Ulrich added.

-A year later-

The world was back to normal. The sky was its usual pale blue again, the roads and building no longer looked like they were going to topple over, and there was a new married couple in the city.

Yumi and Ulrich had already come back from their month long honeymoon, Ulrich's arm having healed to the best of its abilities.

There had been a statue dedicated to all of the First Original Resistance, or the original Lyoko Warriors. If they had not come back from the dream sequence chamber, the world may have perished. They had been the one's who actually came up with the plan and killed Xana after all.

Ulrich had started a new police agency where most of the Resistance had become cops, him being the head detective.

Yumi had started a new hospital that was for both humans and animals.

Jeremy, Herb, and Aeilita had started a new laboratory to continue research and start new research.

And they all lived happily ever after (Until Ulrich and Yumi had kids)

-End of Chapter 20 and End of Without a Trace-

I can't believe I put such a cliché ending there.

I thank you all for reading all 20 chapters of this story, and I know some of you had wanted to kill me many times for cliffy chapters and short chapters, but you didn't!

Keep an eye out for me because I have a few more ideas up my sleeves.


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